This year, the school’s schedule was changed, resulting in the school year starting in September rather than late August. This choice was partly made so students and teachers didn’t have to deal with the heat that comes with the late summer months. This was nice for a lot of students early in the year, but has revealed many consequences now that winter break is over and finals are approaching. The choice to push the year back has caused finals to be placed about two weeks after winter break, and I think that this can and will pose challenges for students.

   Placing finals before winter break is great because it allows the break to truly live up to its name, but the recent decision has caused me to worry about grades, and making sure that I am prepared for finals. There are about two weeks before the actual exams are handed out, and that is more than enough time to study, but the fact that I was not completely done with my first semester was an annoyance throughout the break.

   When break was after first semester, it allowed students to start their last half of the school refreshed and ready to learn. Now that finals are after break, many students will be spending many hours studying and stressing instead of unwinding and recharging their batteries. They will have to go right back to school and start the second semester. This may cause students to be tired and not work as hard third quarter as they would if break was after their finals.

   Not going to school for two weeks can cause many students’ skills to be dulled, one of those skills being recalling course material from the first semester. This could cause kids to have to study more to catch up before finals, or even cause their grades to suffer. When there was no break before finals, kids may not have remembered everything, but they would have been more willing to study compared to a kid who hasn’t done much for two weeks.

   While starting the school year at a later and colder ime is nice, I don’t think it’s worth it to have finals after break because it can cause many problems, and overall isn’t convenient for students.